Page 8 of Claimed By the Dragon
With that, she dashed to the kitchen. Daisy stood at the stove, spatula in hand, dancing in place as she sang, “Cook the egg, cook the egg, but don’t overcook the egg!”
Grace smiled and went to stand next to Daisy. “Thank you for making breakfast.”
“No problem! I can make a lot of things. My stepdad is a better cook than me, but I’m catching up. He promised to let me help with Christmas Dinner, and I can’t wait.”
As Daisy went on about all the things she wanted to make for Christmas, Grace sipped her tea and then ate her eggs and toast. The girl never stopped talking, and yet, she didn’t mind. Grace was too tired to be social, and there was something soothing about Daisy’s chatter.
When she finished eating and stood, Daisy took her hand in hers and said, “My mum said you can call us anytime for help. I can cook, and she’ll change nappies—I hate changing nappies—and help with your boys. I’m convinced they’ll be best friends with my brothers one day, even though my brothers are a little older. But I have older and younger friends, so it’s not impossible, I think. Anyway, just promise to ask us for help,okay? It can be hard to live with the dragon-shifters at first since some of them are a little suspicious of humans. Not that I blame them, since some humans are horrible people. But still, give them a chance, and then they’ll always help you, whenever. I even got the old timers to smile and help with the last human-dragon children’s camp. And everyone said that was impossible! What was I saying? Oh, that’s right—let my mum be your friend. She wants to.”
Daisy finally stopped talking, and Grace said, “I’ll try.”
“Well, that’s a start. Now, let me do the dishes whilst you do mum-stuff. Let me know if you need me to watch the boys. I’m good with babies, I promise.”
“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Grace finally went to take a shower. And as the hot water helped ease some of her soreness and tiredness, she thought about Daisy’s words. Grace wanted to believe them, to think most would accept her and help her, but she couldn’t. Maybe she’d give Dawn and Melanie and some of the humans a chance, but it would be a long while before she could trust any dragon-shifter.
Chapter Four
After finishing his shift at the clinic and cleaning up his office, Trahern walked home, studying the list Blake Whitby had dropped off for him.
Trahern didn’t know the other dragonman well, apart from the few times they’d worked together to solve some clan problems. Blake had been a complete recluse before mating the human female named Dawn. Mainly because Blake had a rare genetic condition where his dragon form lacked nearly all pigment, apart from a black spot on his tail. As such, people had gawked at his white dragon, and he’d stayed away.
While he was still a private person, Blake had stopped by the clinic more often after mating his human. The dragonman was good at backwards engineering things used by the dragon hunters and former Dragon Knights, which had been useful for the various devices that shot out darts or whatever full of drugs. Ones Trahern had helped find remedies and counter-agents for.
However, after the end of their meeting earlier, Blake had slid the stack of papers toward Trahern and said, “This will help you take care of your human and her babies.”
“I’m a doctor. I know how to take care of babies.”
Blake had shaken his head. “Checking their vital signs or blood results isn’t the same as raising them. Just take a look. Dawn likes Grace and asked me to help you.” He gestured at the stack. “That’s my contribution.”
Trahern glanced at the top sheet of paper, which had a table of contents broken into sections. It was orderly, with topics grouped together rationally.
In other words, in a way he might be able to understand.
Blake grunted. “Right, well I promised Dawn I’d be back in time for dinner, just in case Daisy burns the food. Text me if you have questions. I can reply in a clear-cut way, with little ambiguity.”
Trahern lifted his gaze and met Blake’s hazel eyes. “Thank you.”
The other male shrugged. “We’ve both hidden behind science and numbers, using them as an excuse to stay out of the limelight, so I understand you better than most. However, my last bit of advice is to give the human female a chance. Maybe she’ll understand you like Dawn did me and make your life so much better.”
With that, Blake left before Trahern could lay out all the ways their situations were different. Dawn had been Blake’s true mate, for one. And even if Blake were shy, he didn’t struggle to read people’s emotions and moods like Trahern did.
Not for the first time, he wished Emily had come back so he could ask her a few things. But she was helping Clan Seahaven in Scotland, and he didn’t know when she’d return.
His dragon yawned.You could text her. Or send a lengthy email.
Ignoring his beast, Trahern continued studying his list right up until he arrived home. Once inside, he heard Grace curse. He rushed to the kitchen, where she stood in front of the washingmachine, glaring down at the water and soap bubbles on the floor.
He frowned. “What happened?”
She jumped and then placed a hand over her heart. “You scared me. How are you so quiet?”
Ignoring the question, he went to the machine and turned it off so the water would stop flowing from underneath it. Then he retrieved a mop and began cleaning up.
Finally, Grace spoke. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. It filled up fine but then just started leaking everywhere.”
He glanced at her and then back at the floor. “It’s my fault. The machine has been acting up recently, and I put off getting it repaired. That’s why I’ll clean it up.”